Hungary’s Parliament voted on Monday to strip Prime Minister Peter Magyar and two ministers from the previous administration of Viktor Orban of their parliamentary immunity. The decision clears the legal path for prosecutors to initiate separate criminal investigations into each individual.
The vote followed a specific request from Magyar, who is currently under investigation for theft. He sought the removal of his immunity to refute what he described as “character assassination.” The probes against the former Orban-era officials, who are suspected of embezzlement and bribery, mark the first corruption investigations targeting senior government figures from Orban’s sixteen-year tenure.
Legislators approved the measure overwhelmingly. However, Orban’s Fidesz party and its ally, KDNP, boycotted the session. The parliamentary action responded to a prosecutor’s request from the previous week seeking to investigate Magyar, former Culture Minister Balazs Hanko, and former Minister of National Development Miklos Sesztak.
Magyar faces charges related to an incident at a Budapest nightclub in June 2024. Prosecutors allege that he snatched a mobile phone from a man who was filming him and threw the device into the Danube River. Magyar has labeled the case a “sham” and recently accused prosecutors of attempting to link the ex-ministers’ cases to a broader effort at political character assassination, which he claimed had failed previously.
Hanko, a Fidesz legislator, is accused of embezzling over 40 million euros ($46 million) in public funds. Authorities allege the funds were diverted to support the 2026 parliamentary election campaign and for the personal benefit of other individuals. Sesztak, a KDNP lawmaker, is being investigated for allegedly accepting more than $37.2 million in bribes and kickbacks tied to vehicle purchases for Hungary’s state bus company and various state construction projects. Both former ministers deny any wrongdoing.
These legal proceedings emerge less than six months after Magyar’s Tisza party secured a decisive election victory, ending Orban’s long hold on power. During his campaign, Magyar pledged to combat corruption, restore rule-of-law safeguards, and repair Hungary’s strained relations with the European Union. His administration has since prioritized fighting alleged corruption and inflated public procurement costs, including plans to establish a new asset-recovery office focused on financial misconduct linked to the Orban era.
Leave a Reply